I decided that I needed a short break from building and painting Aztecs – for at least long enough to paint one miniature anyways. This one is called “Folder Bot 3000” from Armorcast Terraform Terrain Ltd.’s “Robot Townies” collection. There are a number of unusual robots and Futurama-inspired lookalikes there. I bought this Folder Bot 3000 on a lark when I got some other terrain stuff from Armorcast a few years back. I do like robots and I do like Futurama and Bender, so I got this one.
(Oh hell, its really supposed to be Bender Bending Rodriguez – aka Bender – so let’s call him that !).
The figure stayed on my painting desk in its baggie as I worked on many other projects. This is definitely not my usual practice as I really had no place to properly categorize and put him away for a future game. It was finally Bender’s time…
The figure differs from Bender a bit – his chest “door” hinges are on the right, while the cartoon version’s are on the left, but otherwise it’s similar enough.
I used a 1″ steel washer to mount the figure in lieu of the plastic base. After I assembled the figure, I saw that there were gaps under the arms and they were not fully affixed. There were also some pitting on the figure’s head and back, necessitating my using green stuff as a remedy. In retrospect, I should have just used green stuff to assemble him.
I also saw that the figure just had an empty slit for the “eyes”, and a tiny flat space for the “mouth”. Anyone familiar with Bender knows that he has very expressive “eyes” and a wavy three-lined electronic “mouth”. One of my goals in painting him was to make him as “cartoony” and 2-D as possible. There was no way that I was going to be able to paint the eyes in the slit effectively or to freehand paint the wavy mouth as the figure was then.
I decided to try to sculpt the eyes and the mouth with green stuff. I admire people like Roger at Rantings From Under the Wargame Table who are much better at sculpting with green stuff than I am (as shown by his efforts here). Undaunted, and inspired by Roger (but a little worried), I used green stuff to fill the slit, make eye holes, and to try to sculpt the “waves” on the mouth. The result I achieved is shown below.
I was not happy with the “eye holes” and did not think that I could paint them as “expressive” like in the cartoon. I also did not think that the handle on his chest was big enough – so I used a pin vise to drill out all three. I then carefully cut and filed pieces of paper clip and glued them into the eye holes. This seemed better to me visually – and would be far easier to paint.
As I mentioned, I wanted a cartoon-like miniature. This meant that I would by necessity be limiting any highlighting or excessive shading. Therefore, I also decided that this would be a good opportunity to try to use the Vallejo “Metal Medium” that I had bought to try over two years ago to mix with paints to create a metallic finish that would be in line with the cartoon. This would hopefully prevent me from needing to use any actual metal paints. he would have some shiny aspects, but hopefully not excessive.
I was now ready to prime and paint old Bender.
In line with my painting approach, I decided to wash the primed figure with “Nuln Oil” to give myself a better idea of where to apply the paint/metal medium mixtures. The wash really showed the casting misalignments on the legs and arms, and where some of the errant E6000 had gone. No worries, as I knew that I could both remove the more egregious excess epoxy and hide the casting errors as I painted. I used three different shades of gray, adding the Vallejo “Metal Medium” in a 50/50 mix (all the paints used are listed at the end of the post for those interested).
The painting was fairly straightforward. I used the darker colors on the limbs to hide the misalignments. The mouth was just OK, given how I had to sculpt it. I used some “Nuln Oil GLOSS” on the limbs to accentuate their ring-like construction.
To finish him up, I used a Citadel texture paint (“Astrogranite debris”) on the base and the added a a few colors by dry brushing similar to what I did with my Retrovian platoon. Lastly, I added a satin varnish as I wanted his paint job protected but not too matte.
Right side 
Back view 
Left side
This guy is not my best work, but not my worst. At tabletop distance he looks fine, and hopefully will put a smile on some gamer’s face. I just needed a change for a bit and the work on this little guy provided that for sure. I’ll probably use him in a retro sci-fi game of Combat PatrolTM at some point. I could have sculpted a cigar or a beer battle or two for old Bender, but I decided that was a bit too much for me.
And if Bender does not like that…
Thanks for looking – I am entering this small project into Azazel’s extended July/August community painting challenge in the “hero” category – cartoon robot division (I just made that last part up). Please feel free to comment below – always appreciated.
PAINTS, INKS, GLAZES, SHADES, WASHES, PIGMENTS, FLOCKING, GLUES AND MORE THAT I USED ON THE “FOLDER BOT 3000”:
- Gorilla Glue
- 1″ Everbilt Steel Fender Washers
- Paper clips
- E6000 Epoxy
- Poster tack
- Kneadatite (“green stuff”)
- Vallejo “Surface Primer – White Primer”
- Vallejo “Flow Improver”
- Vallejo “Airbrush Thinner”
- Testors “Universal Acrylic Thinner”
- Citadel “Nuln Oil” (wash)
- Vallejo Game Air “Wolf Grey”
- Vallejo “Metal Medium”
- Citadel “The Fang”
- Vallejo Model Color “Neutral Grey”
- Vallejo Model Color “Glossy White”
- Vallejo Model Color “Glossy Black”
- Citadel “Nuln Oil Gloss” (wash)
- Vallejo Model Color “Mahogany”
- Vallejo Model Air “Weiss” (off-white)
- Vallejo Game Air “Black”
- Citadel “Astrogranite Debris”
- Citadel “Druchi Violet” (wash)
- Citadel “Steel Legion Drab”
- Citadel “Warpfiend Grey”
- Citadel “Slaneesh Grey”
- Vallejo Model Color Varnish “Satin Varnish”
Mark A. Morin 
Not gonna lie, this is my favorite mini you have painted$ I love Futurama and Bender and Fry and… Lol. Possibly my favorite animated series. I just rewatched the entire series this summer with my kids.
Thanks for sharing. Despite the casting issues, you did a great job on B.B. Rodriquez. I might have to pick him up juat for a fun project!
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Thanks borderguy! Bender is glad to be a fave too!
I too love the series, great writing and humor. As for the figures, Armorcast has a good number of these so worth checking out. Their terrain selections are pretty good too.
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Ill definately check them out, Mark! Thanks for the heads up!
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Brilliant, Mark! 🙂 Instantly recognisable as Bender! Futurama is one of my favourite all-time shows!
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Great minds think alike John! Glad ya liked him too!
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Sometimes it is necessary to take a break Mark and do something else, I know that is what I find. You’ve certainly put a lot of work into this single figure but the end result when compared to the cartoon picture has paid off. Well done for showing you can work on metal figures, he wouldn’t have looked as good if he was plastic. 😉
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How right you are! Actually seeing you and others have different painting projects made me think of trying to do this one – though he did as you say require a bit more work than I had anticipated. And yes, metal for me always! Or at least until my lead mountain diminishes…
Trying to do a cartoonish figure was different to be sure too. Glad ya liked him!
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I think you might have been conned Mark, that looks like “Flexo” to me!
Great stuff, and a nice bit of sculpting work too, I know how hard those strips across his mouth would be! and thanks for the shout out too.
Cheers Roger.
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Ahhh, Flexo, the not so evil Bender twin. Well, he had no goatee but perhaps that too was a casting error!
Happy to do the shout out. I do want to get better with green stuff though. That mouth was a challenge.
Cheers back at ya!
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Great work Mark, and a good idea to do a break figure before you got bogged down by Aztecs, I think you’ve done a great job with the greenstuff, just remember it’s like any other skill in this hobby, the more you practice the better you get
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Much appreciated Dave. I did get sick of looking at his sad little baggie, so it was time. I’ve played with green stuff, milliput, and applied sculpt, and all are different. Usually just as filler and not as a sculpt, though my glyptodons did require a bunch. I’m hoping that I won’t need to use too much going forward, though I know that I’ll have some back banners to secure for more Mesoamerican stuff. Thanks very much for the kind feedback.
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Excellent work, Mark! When I saw the title photo, I though you had built Bender from bits from your tool box! I know you said you weren’t;t happy with the sculpting, but I think it looks great! Practice makes us better!
Lastly, I love the entire write-up, it’s something I would like to progress towards myself. My issues come down to remembering to take WIP photos! And working on way too many projects at once.
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Thanks Eric! Yeah, in some ways I’m happy, just not as good as I’d like – but maybe as good as it would be. The write-up is always framed around the photos, and I know that can be an easy thing to overlook in a WIP. I try to take shots of critical points in a project, often just for me to learn from what I have done. When I share, either folks will say – “ah, that’s what he did”, or “why the hell did he do that” or “that’s different”, or something else maybe. In all cases, if it helps or entertains (or both), good by me. Appreciate the kind feedback!
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Ooo, nice job on him! I’ve got this mini somewhere. Like you, I wasn’t too impressed with the casting — it’s pretty rough in places. But seeing yours, and the effort you put in to adding your own details, I’ll have to dig mine out soon.
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Thanks a lot! Yeah, I’m glad he will look fine on the tabletop anyways. I’m sure he’ll get a few chuckles anyways.
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Its interesting Mark things are getting smaller on you blog! maybe its an old guys eyesight that playing tricks! And I thought your Aztec guys were small! I accidently purchased some gloss Nuln Oil and was wondering what one would use it for and low and behold you gave me the an sewer! brilliant mate !!!
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Thanks Pat! He is a bit smallish but is supposed to be 28mm and I did not take the photos as close as I might have. The Nuln Oil Gloss is good when you don’t want a final matte varnish to totally obscure the shading. Here I did use a satin varnish, but the principle is the same. I do like it on metal surfaces better than straight Nuln Oil. Appreciate the feedback Pat, stay safe!
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Great work on Not-Bender there! I do think that with all of your skills you could build/sculpt an even better one from scratch!
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Thanks pal. The thought did cross my mind, but hell, he’s done now! Hope your lockdown is treating you and yours well down under.
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Thanks Mark. The lockdown may be annoying, and it’s rough for a lot of people, but it’s certainly bearable for the (relatively) limited time we’re enduring it in the scheme of things. Too many people are just weak-willed and unwilling to suffer a bit of inconvenience to keep others alive. With internet and Netflix, supermarkets and home-delivery-everything, people have never had something like this so easy – even 10-15 years ago this would have been so much more painful. These soft, self-centred pricks would never have survived living through something like WW2 and most of them wouldn’t know the meaning of sacrifice or suffering, sitting on facebook with their 5G conspiracy theories. The alternative of letting it get away here is much worse, as we’e had some close family members contract it, two go to hospital and one not make it out.
Sorry. Just the hint of a rant there, but I’m certainly able to go right off on that topic right now!
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Sorry to hear of your personal loss, my condolences. You’re right about the relative easiness versus what earlier times would have been like. I was elected to my small town’s Board of Health in 2019 and became Chairman this year. We have had a conservatively-phased reopening but still people push the limits and ignore real risks. The state government has regulations which I have to enforce and deal with complaints from folks about non-compliance. I don’t agree with all of the rules the state has issued – many are clearly not based on science – but I am a good soldier and try to enforce them nonetheless – which leads to a good deal of confrontation. One death is too many, and shared sacrifice is a small thing to ask, yet too many people still here – after nearly 200,000 deaths – don’t think beyond the tip of their noses. Stay safe buddy and keep rocking that brush.
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